Boise, ID – Albertson announced last week it has scheduled 26 store closings across the country by Feb. 20, its fiscal year end.

The closings include 13 stores in the chain’s Southern California division, including 11 in California (Canyon Country, Chula Vista, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Monrovia, Moorpark, Ontario, San Diego, Valencia, Whittier and Woodland Hills) and two in Las Veags; two in its Southwest division (one each in Phoenix and Albuquerque); seven stores in the Pacific Northwest (five in Washington, including two in Tacoma, two in Vancouver and one in Bothell; and stores in Albany and Pendleton, Ore.); two Acme Markets in Westtown and Exton, Pa., where leases were expiring; and two Shaw’s units in Medford and Webster, Mass. The Albertsons slated for closure in Phoenix is at the SWC of Tatum and Greenway.

Christine Wilcox, the chain’s spokeswoman, said the closings follow the company’s ongoing review process.

“These are stores we identified as being underperforming and, despite our best efforts, we determined we couldn’t position them for future profitability,” she said.

Albertsons reviews stores quarterly, she added, “and there are no plans to close additional locations at this time.”

The California, Northwest and Southwest divisions are part of Albertsons LLC, while the Acme and Shaw’s stores are part of New Albertsons Inc. Both LLC and NAI are part of AB Acquisition, the parent company.

Albertsons closed 13 stores in its Florida division last April and six Shaw’s in New Hampshire in August.

Los Angeles, CA — Office and industrial vacancy rates continued to decline in most major U.S. markets during Q4 2013, based on preliminary data from CBRE Group, Inc. Nine of the 13 largest markets showed lower office vacancy, and 12 of the 13 markets saw higher average asking rents. The U.S. industrial market also continued to show improvement in Q4 2013, according to CBRE, as eight of the 12 largest industrial markets had lower vacancy, fueled by demand from third party logistic companies, the food service sector, home construction and manufacturing.

“The steady recovery of the U.S. office market continues. As economic activity improves, investors have had an opportunity to increase rents in most markets. The U.S. industrial market offers particular opportunity for investors seeking to capitalize on improving international trade and a resilient domestic consumer,” said Brook Scott, CBRE’s Interim Head of Research, Americas.

Office

Demand from technology companies led to a 50 basis point (bps) decline in vacancy rates in both San Francisco and Seattle, which reported 8.7% and 15.2% vacancy rates, respectively. A lack of new construction, combined with more office-using employment, contributed to 50 bps vacancy declines in Phoenix and Atlanta. Average office asking rents increased in 12 of the 13 U.S. metro office markets, and concessions have held steady overall. San Francisco led the country with a 3.0% increase in average asking rents, followed by Boston with a 2.5% increase, as space options diminished in both markets. Houston and Washington, D.C. reported significant deliveries during the quarter, at nearly 0.8 million sq. ft. and 1.5 million sq. ft., respectively.

Industrial

The U.S. industrial market continued to improve in Q4 2013, with quarter-over-quarter availability* rates decreasing in eight of the 12 markets. The largest availability rate decline was in Dallas, with a 130 bps drop to 10.5%, followed by Atlanta, down 70 bps to 15.4%. Demand in Dallas was mainly from third party logistic companies and e-commerce related companies, and demand in Atlanta was driven by third party logistic companies, automotive suppliers, and housing-related companies.  These market improvements are consistent with recent signs of strengthening industrial production, reflected in higher automotive purchases and overall consumer spending. While industrial new construction activity has been low by historical standards throughout the recovery cycle, the improving fundamentals have sparked new construction activity in most of the major markets. In Houston, 3.4 million sq. ft. of new space was delivered in Q4 2013, and an additional 7.8 million sq. ft. is under construction.

*Availability is space that is actively being marketed and available for tenant build-out within 12 months.

Arizona’s Office of Employment and Population Statistics came out with its predictions last Thursday to expect 59,000 jobs to be added in 2014, with the growth rate increasing from 2% in the two years prior to 2.3%, according to the report.

Overall, the report said, the U.S. has regained 78% of the jobs lost since the pre-recession peak. Arizona has only seen 47% of the jobs lost come back, but “the fundamentals of Arizona’s economy continue to show signs of growth,” it said.

Thursday’s report, indicated that growth would be slightly higher than had been predicted by a May forecast.

Job growth will be led by the professional and business services sector, which is forecast to add 32,400 jobs in both 2013 and 2014. In total, that sector including temporary workers and consultants was the fourth-largest portion of all jobs in Arizona in 2012.

Growth rates in 2014 are expected to be higher than 2013 across all regions. Phoenix is forecast to continue growing at a faster pace (2.6%) than Tucson (2.1%), Balance of State (1.3%), and the state overall (2.3%). For 2014 the job gains forecast for Phoenix MSA are 46,700 jobs, Tucson MSA 7,800 jobs, and Balance of State 4,400 jobs.

The report said 2.57 million Arizonans will have jobs that aren’t farm-related at the end of 2014, up from 2.39 million in 2010. Population growth is forecast to continue in 2014 at a rate of 1.2%, the same as the previous year and up from 0.2% in 2010.

Aruna Murthy, the state’s director of economic analysis, said job growth could be curtailed by federal budget cuts, economic uncertainty and a possible drop in demand for residential real estate following rising interest rates. Spending cuts by federal and state governments could also restrict growth, as could weak consumer demand.

“For most of these sectors, 2014 looks better than 2013,” she said. “There are some where it’s a little higher than others, but in general it’s a better year in the number of jobs overall.”

The report said that Arizona will add 48,500 jobs in 2013.

“There are lots of good things happening, but things could change at any time, so there’s no certainty,” Murthy said. “Despite the unemployment rate dropping and improvement in the overall employment situation, we still have constrained household budgets, there is still employment insecurity, the wages are still low, the debt is high and the essential cost of living is going up.”

Dennis Hoffman, an economist at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, said shrinking consumer demand among baby boomers could remain a headwind.

“The economy needs consumers ready and willing to step up to the plate to purchase products,” he said. “There’s still a lot of that going on, but it’s just not going on at near the frenzied pace of the last several decades. And that’s just the aging of the baby boomers.”

Hoffman said government could help by making infrastructure investments to help the economy move forward.

Trade, transportation and utilities jobs will grow only modestly, from nearly 58,000 jobs in 2012 to just over 60,000 in 2014, according to the forecast.

The report predicted that leisure and hospitality jobs will surpass the 2007 peak by the end of the year, led by the food and beverage service subsector. The report predicted that the sector overall will add 7,600 jobs in 2014, growing to over 280,000 jobs total.

For full detailed jobs report click here https://www.azstats.gov/pubs/labor/PR-Forecast-2.pdf